By Clayton A. Mitchell, Esquire
The political landscape has indeed reached an unprecedented low-water mark, stained by a grotesque degradation of discourse that would have been unimaginable in more civilized times. Both the media and the campaigns of Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have engaged in an incendiary rhetorical warfare that not only degrades the standards of political exchange but is, frankly, counterproductive to the health of the nation.
That such verbal vitriol has become the currency of political discourse is a sign of intellectual bankruptcy. The words being exchanged are not the tools of interactive inquiry, nor are they aimed at the persuasion of fellow citizens – but are rather vicious verbal barbs meant to incite, provoke, and inflame. This is not the language of statesmen, nor even of politicians, but of street agitators with no higher aim than the consolidation of personal power and the destruction of one’s political adversaries.
Consider the recent assassination attempts upon President Trump, events which should have been met with solemnity and national unity. Instead, we are treated to a barrage of recriminations, with both sides accusing the other of fostering the very violence they ought to condemn. The fact that rhetoric has become so immoderate that we can no longer distinguish the political arena from the vulgarities of a street brawl speaks to a profound moral and intellectual failing on the part of our leadership and the press.
Trump’s provocations—his rhetorical excesses over the years—have been met with equally irresponsible demonization. To call a former president a “threat to democracy” or to compare him to a fascist tyrant not only inflames the passions of the already enraged but lowers the bar for political discourse to a level beneath contempt. There was once a time when political figures—however disagreeable—were acknowledged as legitimate participants in the democratic process, whose views, however mistaken, were due the respect of engagement on their merits. Today, we are asked to see our political adversaries as existential threats, as enemies not only of policy but of the very fabric of our nation.
Vice President Harris and her cohort are not innocent in this matter. The gleeful demonization of Trump, portraying him as a near-apocalyptic figure, has only exacerbated the national mood, contributing to an atmosphere of paranoia and heightened anxiety. The suggestion that Trump represents some sort of clear and present danger to the very survival of democracy is hyperbolic at best, and it undercuts the gravity of the actual political challenges we face. Meanwhile, Trump and his advisers, rather than rising above such incendiary attacks, retaliate with equal fervor, casting their political opponents as destroyers of the nation. This endless cycle of recrimination accomplishes nothing but to degrade the American political climate further.
The tragedy of this descent into verbal barbarism is that it distracts us from the real issues. The American people deserve better than to see their political leaders behaving like gladiators in the Colosseum, each hoping to deliver a rhetorical death blow to the other.
What we require now, more than ever, is a return to reasoned argument, to statesmanship, and to the notion that political opponents are not enemies of the state, but fellow Americans with differing visions for the future.
In his better moments, President Trump has called for unity. Vice President Harris, in moments of clarity, has spoken of turning the page on divisiveness. But these sentiments are fleeting.
Until both sides can restrain their incendiary rhetoric and recognize the corrosive effects of their words, and until the media abandons its penchant for tawdry sensationalism and its proclivity for reducing the solemnity of electoral campaigns to the triviality of game show theatrics, the country will remain mired in a cycle of anger, resentment, and, tragically, violence. It is a new low for this Republic—a moment that calls for reflection – but instead is being met with yet more verbal pyrotechnics. What a shame.
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The author is an attorney who resides on the Eastern Shore and is co-host of the Gonzales/Mitchell Podcast.
